


The Gang's All Here

by Elkian (SuperImposed)



Series: Cramming My OCs Into Fallout: New Vegas [1]
Category: Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Child Soldiers, Deaf Character, Drabble Collection, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Lore? Where we're going we won't need... lore., Not Beta Read, OC-centric, Unethical Experimentation, it doesn't come up much but I want to be very clear on that, no one is straight, toot toot welcome to oc central
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:40:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24762496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuperImposed/pseuds/Elkian
Summary: A look at 4 existing OCs, Courier style:Elizabeth Santiago, world-weary former Magical Girl/Child Soldier,Dazka, glaive-wielding sweetheart and profoundly deaf wanderer,Rafael "Ray" Trujillo, stabby punk and secret softie, and,Sickle, perpetually-amusedbargain-bin Jokermercenary whose moral compass is a roulette wheel.(Warnings, descriptions, and further detail by chapter.)
Series: Cramming My OCs Into Fallout: New Vegas [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1790788
Kudos: 1





	1. Tragical Girl: Elizabeth Santiago

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elizabeth deals with the nature of humanity.
> 
> Chapter warnings: Fairly extensive, non-graphic discussion of unethical medical procedures, some of which involve minors. This regards child soldiers, though it's never made explicit. Also a brief reference to body horror on the same note.
> 
> (Description: Elizabeth is a pale, freckled redhead who usually keeps her wavy hair up in a ponytail. The perpetual bags under her eyes and world-weary expression makes people overestimate her age.)

They keep going, ‘til the sky goes too dark to continue. Snow crunches underfoot as they make camp, everyone… uncharacteristically quiet.

It’s not until they’re set up, Lily humming and poking at the fire, Arcade choking down some jerky, Elizabeth- just staring into the flames, having refused even the palty comfort of a sarsaparilla, that she speaks.

“Lily,” she starts, quiet but clear, “I’m sorry for snapping at you.”

‘Snapping’ is a good word choice, Arcade thinks.

Snapping at Doc Henry, not even seeming to hear his exclamations of how brilliant her suggestion was. Snapping around on her heel to stalk out, bright orange ponytail whipping around to nearly clock herself in the face. Snapping at Arcade “Well then he shouldn’t work with _people_ , should he!?” when he tried to tell her that Henry was just like that.

Snapping at Lily, that she shouldn’t have agreed to such a thing, that she (Elizabeth) would die before she (Lily) became an _experiment_ , emphasis hers.

Just…

...snapping.

Lily pauses in her fire-keeping to gently plant a huge hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Oh, sweetie, I forgive you. I know you only said it because you care.”

Arcade sometimes envies the ease with which Lily seems to always know the right thing to say. The proverbial magic spell, to restore a brittle ice sculpture into a living girl.

“Thank you,” the courier whispers, ducking her head, and Arcade doesn’t think he mistakes the dark gleam of gathering tears.

She blinks them back, sits up, and clears her throat. One pale hand comes to rest over Lily’s. “It’s very kind of you to say that,” she says, again sounding like the courier everyone talks about instead of the _teenager_ she is, “but I still apologize. I should have been nicer.” She looks at him, now. “Arcade, you too. I apologize for letting anger and stress get the best of me. You didn’t deserve my harsh language.”

Harsh language. She hadn’t even cursed.

...it suddenly occurs to Arcade, a literal tested genius, why someone like _Elizabeth_ might, perhaps, be so rigorous on herself when it came to anger management.

Well, if someone half his age is putting in the effort, so should he. Arcade clears his throat and dusts off his jacket a little. “I forgive you as well,” he says, trying not to sound as condescending as it feels. She relaxes, so he supposes it works. “I’d… like to know more about what happened, so we can prevent a repeat performance.”

Teen Elizabeth returns with a vengeance, ducking her head, a dark flush rising in her cheeks. “I’m sorry,” she mumbles, sounding her actual age again. “And...” she sighs, “yeah, okay.”

“Lily,” she looks up at the Nightkin - or rather, the old woman, whom she calls ‘Grandma’ with no lack of fondness, “I’m- you’re an adult, you can make your own decisions, and I’m sorry for doubting you. I just... ” she clasps her hands in front of her, now, nearly glaring at the innocent campfire. “I didn’t want you to… get taken advantage of. Used.”

_‘Like me’_ stabs Arcade’s heart as surely as if she’d said it aloud. “Elizabeth?” he can’t help but prompt. Even if it means she turns that glare on **him**.

“It… was for a good purpose. A good reason. I truly believe that… even now,” she says, running a hand down her face, looking tired. “I… I volunteered. I wanted… I wanted to protect the people I loved.” She smiles at him, just a flash, watery and young. Black tracks down her cheek.

“I succeeded. I can’t, I **won’t** regret that. I don’t regret the choice I made, if it could save the people I cared about. I’d do it all again.” A hand presses over her chest. “But, well...” she smiles at Arcade again, pained and wry. “You know what’s under here, right, Arcade?”

He should better. There was a reason the girl was content to tote him around, rather than a more accomplished, actual-medical doctor.

There was no heartbeat under that hand.

No heart _to_ beat - he’d seen it, once in real life and dozens of times in cruel slumber. She’d shoved someone, Boone or Cass, to the ground, taking the fire axe solidly to the shoulder. And then past the shoulder.

Arcade doesn’t say any of this aloud. He nods, and then he rustles a sarsaparilla out of the pack to offer to her. This time, the girl takes it with a wan smile and thanks.

She wipes more tarry tears off her face and pops the cap with the flick of a finger. “Oh, lucky,” she mumbles, turning it over to inspect the blue star.

They wait, Lily patting her shoulder and murmuring “take your time, dearie”, Arcade pressing linked hands over his mouth, elbows on his knees, to hide his growing dread. 

Elizabeth takes a long swig, looking calmer. She deserves it, really. Kid’s a miracle worker. She’s too spartan, unwilling to take what she claims she doesn’t need and can’t appreciate, but at least she can still enjoy the odd soft drink. At least she can still taste the odd soft drink.

“They changed me. I consented to the procedure, but I was… I was a dumb, stupid, naiive kid.” A fresh tear stains her cheek again. “I had no idea what the actual consequences were going to be.

“I don’t regret it. I’ll never regret it. But I do miss being… human.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Canon!Elizabeth is a Magical Girl who was tricked as to the nature of... all of it. She now spends her remaining time trying to warn those who have fallen into the same trap.
> 
> FNV!Elizabeth is fairly similar. I actually had a very extensive first draft where she discussed more explicitly the nature and motivation of the change (it involves Vaults, which I suspect answers a lot of questions on its own) but cut it entirely and wrote what you see above. I do still have the original draft in the event that anyone is interested. This still feels a bit rough, but I excised a looooot of dialogue that probably wasn't too necessary.
> 
> (Note: Canon!Elizabeth at this point would be about 16. Not sure if FNV!Elizabeth is on that exact same timetable.)


	2. A Glaive and a Good Heart: Dazka

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dazka is light-skinned, very tall (6'9"), skinny, and a bit androgynous. Her (long, long) hair looks like it might have been light brown once, but it's hard to tell with all the gray in it now.
> 
> (This is why people tend to overestimate her age.)
> 
> She also has a light, broad scar over much of her left jaw+cheek.
> 
> Warnings: Spoilers for the _One For My Baby_ quest, canon-typical violence, mentions of ableism but hopefully no actual ableism.

Craig gets his answers when the traveler knocks on the inside of the shop door.

Her thanks is inscribed across a glowing Pip-boy screen, and eyes briefly squinched with pleasure.

That grows as he speaks with her - and cools into serious contemplation when he asks for- _requisitions_ her assistance.

_No promises_ , she says at last, _and I don’t know how well it’ll go, but I’ll see what I can do_.

Best he can hope for - seemed a bit uncomfortable with the idea. He wonders if he shouldn’t have bothered.

\---

That’s the last he sees her for the better part of two weeks - in fact, she vanishes entirely from town for a bit, just before the final, ear-shattering KABOOM from the REPCONN site. He spots her flagging down No-Bark on her return, but doesn’t linger - he has work to do.

\---

Manny Vargas, in probably a misguided attempt to win back his affection -which, _forget it, asshole_ \- elbows him during shift change and tells him he has an admirer.

It takes until Andy says something to the same effect that he figures it out - it seems she’s questioning behind the implication that she’s got a crush on him, and is digging up dirt.

Well. That’s… effective, he guesses. Unlikely to draw attention to the real reason.

\---

He _does_ think he spots her, or someone her height and lanky build, slipping into the front office. But a handful of raiders pop up and distract him.

An hour later, he spots that tall frame and long hair slowly approaching the bridge. Not alone.

And then he sees red, and then he sees red.

\---

He finally looks up from smoothing the receipt between his hands - a sickening last scrap of Carla's existence, a haunting memento - and, as the sun begins to set, she asks what he'll do now.

He doesn't intend to agree when she invites him along, but... ah, what the hell.

(The look she gives him when he says bad things are coming to him -sharp, cutting through him- he doesn't want to discuss further, after all.)

\---

He tells he it's _Beautiful_ , at least once - _nice shot_ with the final sign flipping to underline his grin - and it is. Not funny, exactly, but he (and Arcade, later, when he remembers to mention it) get a, what does Arcade call it?

A _cathartic_ chuckle out of Dazka’s increasing terrorization of the Legion.

(They knew it was increasing because more and more assassins kept coming. Hell, that’s how they’d stumbled across Arcade to begin with.)

It was increasingly clear that the Legion had no notion of how to deal with her. They keep circling up around her, sneering and cocky and unquestioning of where her backup is - not that she needs it, with a glaive and a dozen exposed thighs roughly equidistant around her...

  
A disabled queer woman hacking misogynist, ableist bigots into tiny pieces because they didn’t grasp the concept of leg armor was, indeed, fucking _beautiful_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Canon!Dazka is one of my newest OCs, and is a bit on the ambiguous side, but I love her quite a bit.
> 
> This is a combination of newly-written old material and copy-paste. I hope that comes as a surprise, lol... The last bit does feel a bit rough but I'm okay with how this turned out.
> 
> Aside from the mishmash, I am not profoundly deaf or HoH myself so if you are please let me know if there are any problems!


End file.
